Transport
Birmingham New Street Station
A large ETFE dome roof spanning the main concourse at Birmingham New Street.
Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Sector
- Transport — mainline station
- System
- Large-span ETFE dome over the concourse
- Why ETFE
- Daylight deep into a below-ground space, minimal added load
The challenge
New Street's concourse sits below street level, wrapped in retail and offices, with platforms beneath. It had a long reputation as a dark, oppressive space, and any new roof had to bring daylight down into it without adding significant load.
The ETFE solution
A wide ETFE dome spans the concourse. The translucent cushions diffuse daylight evenly across the floor below, so the light reaches the back of the space rather than pooling under a single rooflight, and the supporting structure stayed slender.
The result
The concourse reads as a bright, open room rather than an underground box. Daylight does much of the work that artificial lighting used to do during the day, and the roof became the defining image of the rebuilt station.
